Greece 1941 by Plowman Jeffrey;

Author:Plowman, Jeffrey;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / world War II
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2019-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Map 6: 18 April 1941 – The Pineios Gorge attack.

Chilton sent in his carrier platoon to deal with this and asked for support from Macky, who sent his carrier platoon. Though the Australian carriers came under heavy fire, two crewmen being killed and four others wounded, they and the New Zealand carriers hit the Germans hard, eliminating those that had managed to cross and killing some others in the river.28 Under the cover of machine-gun fire the Germans then sent a battalion of infantry across in front of A and B companies of 2/2 Australian Battalion, this being met by a hail of Bren gun fire and mortar fire, as Charlie Green described:

The only thing wrong with it for a mortar target was the fact that it was about 2,000 yards away, which was considerably in excess of the range for 3-inch mortars in those days. This however did not stop Sgt Coyle and his mortar platoon. The normal round plus a few extra primary charges were dropped into the barrel, the base plates almost disappeared into the ground and the mortars caused hundreds of casualties.29

By 11.30am the German attack was spent. The commander of I/143. Gebirgsjäger-Regiment, Major Weiser, then attempted to find another way across the Pineios River. Patrols sent to the west of Gonos had no luck. They found the river there too deep and wide for a crossing to be possible without the probability of suffering heavy casualties. Worse still, they had no material to make a bridge, their engineer platoon was not with them and most of his men could not swim. Upon learning that III/143. Gebirgsjäger-Regiment had crossed by way of a ferry they had found to the east of Parapotamos, Weiser sought permission to use this. This was refused and instead they were ordered to move by all available means to Tempe and cross there. This was something that Weiser was unwilling to undertake, as it would have involved a journey of five kilometres under flanking fire.30

Meantime, in the gorge itself, the tanks that had crossed the river the previous evening were in a difficult position until the demolition could be cleared. They were eventually joined by a platoon from 8/800. Brandenberg-Regiment who had managed to cross on kapok floats and, unable to advance beyond the tanks, they started work on opening up a route through the demolition. On the other side of the river Aufklärungs-Abteilung 112 attempted to move forward, but were forced to go to ground after coming under heavy machine-gun and mortar fire from the New Zealander infantry on the south bank and their artillery.31

Around 12.15pm the German tanks and their supporting infantry, having finally cleared the demolitions, appeared in front of 12 Platoon, 21 NZ Battalion, who, as the firing intensified from across the river, were forced to pull back up the slope towards D Company. This lessening of fire also opened up the way for Aufklärungs-Abteilung 112, allowing them to push on through the gorge towards Tempe. Then, at 12.

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